At the back end of the 1980s, I was invited to interview Donald Sutherland at the National Film Theatre in London for a Guardian event. The format was quite simple: show some clips, welcome the star on stage, ask some questions, then throw it open to an eager audience.
However, in the weeks leading up to the event, I had a number of calls from Sutherland – “I’m on my car phone in Canada driving in a snowstorm” – apparently agonising about the evening’s traditional arrangement.
